1587

– Sir Walter Raleigh appoints John White to be the Governor of the Roanoke Colony, to be established later in the year by English colonists on Roanoke Island off the coast of what is now the U.S. state of North Carolina.^[1] White and 121 other colonists depart from Portsmouth on three ships on May 8 and arrive at Croatoan Island on July 22.

– In Japan, Chancellor of the Realm Toyotomi Hideyoshi ends Portugal's control of the port of Nagasaki after six years. Omura Sumitada had leased the fishing village to Portuguese Jesuits on August 15, 1580. ^[2]

– (1st waxing of Tabaung 948 ME) King Nanda of Burma appoints his eldest son and heir apparent, Minye Kyawswa II, as Viceroy of Ava, now part of upper Burma, with a capital at Inwa (located in what is now the Mandalay Region of Myanmar.

– Mary, Queen of Scots, the monarch of Scotland from 1542 to 1567, is beheaded in front of 300 witnesses at Fotheringhay Castle, seven days after the signing of a death warrant by her cousin, Queen Elizabeth of England. Mary had been convicted of treason for her role in the Babington Plot, a conspiracy to overthrow the English government and to assassinate Elizabeth.^[3]

– A period of exceptionally severe cold begins in western Europe and lasts until February 24.^[4]

– Sir Anthony Cope, a member of the English Parliament, is imprisoned in the Tower of London after presenting a Puritan revision of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer to the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir John Puckering.^[5] He is released on March 23.

– In west Africa, Álvaro II Nimi a Nkanga becomes the new ruler of the Kingdom of Kongo, with a capital at São Salvador in what is now the city of M'banza-Kongo in the northern part of the Republic of Angola, and including parts of the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Alvaro II claims the throne upon the dath of his father, Álvaro I Nimi a Lukeni lua Mvemba.

– English privateer accepts a commission from the Kingdom to disrupt Spanish freighters trading with italy.

– Anders Arrebo, Danish writer (d. 1637)

– Xu Xiake, Chinese adventurer and geographer (d. 1641)

– Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, Spanish politician (d. 1645)

January 8

– John Winthrop, English Puritan lawyer (d. 1649)

– Pál Esterházy, Hungarian noble (d. 1645)

– Dorothea Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst (d. 1609)

– Emanuel Sueyro, Dutch historian, translator, spymaster (d. 1629)

– Stefano Landi, Italian composer (d. 1639)

– David Lindsay, 1st Lord Balcarres, Scottish politician and noble (d. 1642)

– Sir John Mill, 1st Baronet, English politician (d. 1648)

– Virginia Centurione Bracelli, Italian saint (d. 1651)

– Sir Charles Morrison, 1st Baronet, Member of the Parliament of England (d. 1628)

April 26

– Krzysztof Ossoliński, Polish nobleman (d. 1645)

– Sophie of Saxony, Duchess of Pomerania (d. 1635)

– Éléonore de Bourbon, Dutch princess (d. 1619)

– Richard Newport, 1st Baron Newport, English politician (d. 1651)

– Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1637)

– Esaias van de Velde, Dutch painter (d. 1630)

May – , Dutch landscape painter (died 1630)^[23]

– Susan de Vere, Countess of Montgomery, English noblewoman (d. 1628)

– Willem Bontekoe, skipper in the Dutch East India Company (d. 1657)

– Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, English colonial administrator and admiral (d. 1658)

– Sir Thomas Jervoise, English politician (d. 1654)

– Gabriel Gustafsson Oxenstierna, Swedish statesman (d. 1640)

– Kaspar von Barth, German philologist and writer (d. 1658)

June 24

– Magdalene of Bavaria, Consort of Wolfgang William, Count Palatine of Neuburg (d. 1628)

– Khusrau Mirza, Mughal prince (d. 1622)

– Virginia Dare, Virginia colony settler

– Johann Friedrich, Count Palatine of Sulzbach-Hilpoltstein (1614–1644) (d. 1644)

– Christian William of Brandenburg, administrator of bishoprics of Magdeburg and Halberstadt (d. 1665)

– Gómez Suárez de Figueroa, 3rd Duke of Feria, Spanish general (d. 1634)

– Countess Juliane of Nassau-Siegen, Landgravine of Hesse-kassel (d. 1643)

– Francesca Caccini, Italian composer^[24]

September 19

– Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire, English politician (d. 1669)

– Nathan Field, English dramatist and actor (d. 1620)

– Philippe-Charles, 3rd Count of Arenberg (d. 1640)

– Thomas Dacres, English politician (d. 1668)

– Joachim Jungius, German mathematician and philosopher (d. 1657)^[25]

– Sir Gilbert Gerard, 1st Baronet of Harrow on the Hill, English politician (d. 1670)

– Samuel Scheidt, German composer (d. 1653)^[26]

November 17

– Sir Gervase Clifton, 1st Baronet, English politician (d. 1666)

– Emmanuel Stupanus, Swiss physician (d. 1664)

– Dorothea Sophia, Abbess of Quedlinburg Abbey (1618–1645) (d. 1645)

– Simon VII, Count of Lippe-Detmold (1613–1627) (d. 1627)

date unknown

– Juraj Drašković, Croatian Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1525)

January – , English official (b. 1515)

– Mary, Queen of Scots (executed) (b. 1542)^[28]

– Vincenzo Ruffo, Italian composer (b. 1510)

– Dorothea of Saxony, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (b. 1563)

– Sophie of Brandenburg-Ansbach, princess of Brandenburg-Ansbach (b. 1535)

– Magdalene of Lippe, Countess of Lippe by birth, and Landgravine of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1552)

– Caspar Olevian, German theologian (b. 1536)^[29]

– Ralph Sadler, English statesman (b. 1507)

– Henry III, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels (b. 1542)

– Thomas Bromley, English lord chancellor (b. 1530)

– John Foxe, English author (b. 1516)^[30]

– Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland (b. 1549)

– Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (b. c. 1510)^[31]

– Jakob Schegk, German physician (b. 1511)

– Gotthard Kettler, Duke of Courland and Semigallia (b. 1517)

– Ignatius Ni'matallah, Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch (b. c. 1515)^[32]

– Ōtomo Sōrin, Japanese Christian daimyō (b. 1530)

– Frederick II, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (b. 1568)

– Ōmura Sumitada, Japanese Christian daimyō (b. 1533)

– Joachim of Zollern, Titular Count of Hohenzollern (b. 1554)

– Godfried van Mierlo, Dutch Dominican friar and bishop (b. 1518)

– Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (b. 1538)

– Vincenzo Bellavere, Italian composer (b. c. 1540)^[33]

– Henry Cheyne, 1st Baron Cheyne, English politician and baron (b. 1540)

– George Douglas (martyr), Scottish secular priest and martyr (b.c. 1540)^[34]

– Jacobus Pamelius, Belgian bishop (b. 1536)^[35]

– Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1541)

– Anne de Joyeuse, Duke of Joyeuse, French commander, (b. 1560)

– Alfonso d'Este, Lord of Montecchio, Italian nobleman (b. 1527)

– Abe Motozane, Japanese warlord (b. 1513)

– Hai Rui, Ming Dynasty "model official" (b. 1514)

– Andreas Gaill, German jurist and statesman (b. 1526)

date unknown

probable – , English writer (b. 1544)

. 1587, a Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline (Yale University Press, 1982), on China during the Ming dynasty.

Ott, Michael R. Fünfzehnhundertsiebenundachtzig: Literatur, Geschichte und die Historia von D. Johann Fausten (Frankfurt am Main, 2014) .